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WWW.CHAMPIONNEWSPAPER.COM • FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2011 • VOL. 14, NO. 1 •FREE
F 
REE 
P 
RESS 
• A PUBLICATION OF ACE III COMMUNICATIONS •
Confessions
 
of a prom limo driver
by Gale Horton Gay
U
nder the watchful eyes of their bursting-with-pride parents, theyoung men and women comeacross almost as princes and prin-cesses with  nery and manners to match.Cameras capture the moments as corsagesare pinned and poses struck. Sometimesheads are bowed in prayer just before theyenter the limousine headed to prom.Oh, but once that limo turns the corner,many of these teens toss their manners andgood sense out the window and go buck wild.Limo drivers like
Andrew Doyle
haveseen it all: Girls who appear docile in frontof mom and dad but are anything but in thecompany of their friends; boys who seemlike perfect gentlemen until they start refer-ring to their female companions in less-than- attering language.Doyle is the owner of Above All Ex-ecutive Transportation and Limousine Ser-vice and his Decatur busi- ness has beensquiring young folks aroundon that all-important promnight for six years.And while music occasionally has beena little crude and he has had to pull a limoover a time or two to address the behavior of his youthful passengers, Doyle said thatmost of the time most of the teens are hav-ing good, clean fun on a night they willremember for the rest of their lives.March to May is prom time in DeKalbCounty, and Doyle, who anticipates beingbooked every weekend, is again preparingfor a busy season.Part of the preparation is having theteens he’ll transport sign a Prom PromiseAgreement that spells out what’s appropriatebehavior in his limo and what’s not as wellas the consequences if teens cross the line.No drugs, alcohol, smoking, weapons andunruly behavior. And if the rules are broken,services will be terminated immediately andparents called to pick up their children.Such agreements are standard amongmany transportation services with some out-lining that parents will be called before anylast-minute changes to the route are madeand that teens are expected to respect thedriver. The general contract also speci eshefty fees if clean-up is needed if a passen-ger gets sick ($250 for shampoo and dis-infectant) or leaves the vehicle in disrepair ($300 for burn holes, rips or tears to uphol-stery).
 
Andrew Doyle owner of Above All Executive Transporta-tion and Limousine Service. Photo by Travis Hudgons
DeKalb studentsparticipate in annualculinary competition
Winning Redan High School team members, from left, Kelsey MarieColins, Asia Reid and Candace Kemp and their entrée from their winning submission. Photos by Travis HudgonsJudge Kami R. Smith, CEPC, right, asks Charles Ray from Towersabout his cooking technique during the competition.A member from Arabia Mountain’s team puts the fi nal touches ontheir main dish.
See Limo on Page 15A 
See page 15 for full coverage
 
THE CHAMPION FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2011 • PAGE 2A
NEWS
See Smoking on Page 3A
Court nds attorney hadconict of interest
by Nigel RobertsEyewitness testimony andpictures taken at the scene of the crime were enough for DeKalb prosecutors to obtainguilty pleas from two kid-nappers. But the courts haveallowed one of the men towithdraw his guilty plea be-cause of his lawyer’s conictof interest in representingboth defendants.According to court docu-ments,
Anvar Mamedov
was driving along JollyAvenue in Clarkston whenhis friend
Mohammed Haji-Essa
told him to stop thecar. Haji-Essa got out of thepassenger seat and forced ayoung woman—in whom hehad a romantic interest—intothe car. After a few minutes,the two men returned her,shaken up but unharmed, tothe spot where they abductedher.Mamedov, an Uzbekistanrefugee, pleaded guilty tofalse imprisonment, basedon advice from an attorneyHaji-Essa hired. For the twoyears prior to the 2007 in-cident, Mamedov had beenliving in the United States“as a lawful” resident. So, asa rst-time offender, he wassentenced by court to threeyears of probation and com-munity service.But Mamedov’s guiltyplea caught the attention of immigration authorities. Un-der immigration law, falseimprisonment is a felony thatcould trigger deportation.Mamedov then petitioned thecourt to allow him to with-draw his guilty plea, arguingthat his attorney failed to in-form him of the possibility of deportation. He told the courtthat he would not have plead-ed guilty to settle the matter if he knew it would affect hisimmigration status.A lower court ruled in2010 that Haji-Essa’s lawyer had a conict of interest inrepresenting both defendantsand threw out Mamedov’sconviction. Consequently,DeKalb prosecutors appealedto the Georgia SupremeCourt.In a unanimous decisionreleased on March 18, thehigh court sided with Mame-dov. After analyzing the case,the court found “no error” inthe lower court’s ruling thatthe lawyer hired by Haji-Essahad “an actual conict of in-terest that adversely affectedcounsel’s performance.”Chief Justice
Carol Hun-stein
, writing for the court,acknowledged that prosecu-tors disputed some facts inthe case, such as whether Mamedov consulted with aseparate immigration attor-ney. However, “the undisput-ed evidence establishes thatMamedov was never advisedabout any risk of deporta-tion,” Hunstein stated.The justices pointed outthat Haji-Essa paid all attor-ney fees—and the attorneyin essence was Haji-Essa’slawyer, though technicallyrepresenting the interest of both men. The attorney ad-mitted failing to discuss adefense with Mamedov andnever raised the issue that theco-defendants had conictinginterests.“First, the fact that Haji-Essa alone was paying coun-sel’s fees created a strongincentive for counsel toprioritize Haji-Essa’s inter-ests in the matter over Mam-edov’s,” the ruling stated.The high court said the fact isthat “Mamedov was the lessculpable of the two in thecrime,” adding that his par-ticipation “was limited to hisrole as a passive witness whohappened to be driving whenHaji-Essa initiated the brief,apparently unpremeditatedinteraction with the victim.”Although the court didn’t sayso, it suggested that the at-torney ill-advised Mamedovto enter a joint defense withhis friend.“In a case of joint rep-resentation of conictinginterests, the evil is in whatthe advocate is compelled torefrain from doing,” Hun-stein wrote. “Thus, a failureon the part of counsel topursue an alternative defensetheory that is more favorableto one defendant but whichwould have prejudiced a co-defendant by shifting blameto him may well give rise toan actual conict of interest.”
Health board considers tougher anti-smoking law
by Andrew Cauthenandrew@dekalbchamp.comCigarette smoking inDeKalb County could be athing of the past if the coun-ty’s Board of Health gets itsway.“We’re trying to givethose who don’t smoke theopportunity to have a smoke-free environment,” said
Eliz-abeth Ford
, district healthdirector.The health board wantsto strengthen the county’ssmoking ordinance, passedin 2002, which currentlybans smoking “in all publicplaces and places of employ-ment within unincorporatedDeKalb County,” but allowssmoking outdoors as longas it occurs 20 feet or morefrom any entrance.Excluded from the currentban are free-standing bars;retail tobacco stores; adultentertainment establish-ments; any property ownedor leased by municipalities,the state of Georgia or thefederal government; and pri-vate residences unless theyare used as child care, adultday care or health care facili-ties; and designated smokingrooms in hotels.A statewide smoking banin most public places wassigned into law in 2005 bythen-governor 
Sonny Perdue
.The Board of Health isworking on an ordinance thatFord hopes is as strong asone just enacted in Savannah,which bans smoking in bars,bowling alleys, outdoor sta-diums and private clubs. Theordinance even bans smokingwhen standing outdoors inservice lines such as at ATMs,concerts, food vendors, mov-ies and sporting events. Sa-vannah’s ban also includeselectronic cigarettes.Ford said DeKalb’s currentordinance is not working. TheSoutheastern United States re-mains at the bottom for mosthealth parameters.“We have a huge pediatricasthma issue,” Ford said.The effort to strengthen thesmoking ban is part of a na-tionwide push to limit tobaccouse and reduce the negativeeffects of second-hand smoke.Calabasas, Calif., has thestrictest smoke-free ordinancein the nation, according to
Jason Varner
, business andpolicy analyst for the Boardof Health.“If you’re in your car withthe windows down, you can’tsmoke,” Varner said. “Wewant to make sure DeKalbCounty is one of the healthiestin the country.”The Board of Health willconsider the tougher smok-ing ban on April 21 at 3 p.m.,when there will be a publichearing on the subject. Theboard’s recommendationwill then be forwarded to thecounty’s Board of Commis-sioners which has the author-
 
www.championnewspaper.com THE CHAMPION FREE PRESS, FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2011 Page 3A
by Daniel Beauregarddaniel@dekalbchamp.comGeorgia has one of the highest unemploy-ment rates in the country at 10.2 percent andDeKalb County’s rose to 10.5 percent in Feb-ruary.According to the latest Georgia Depart-ment of Labor (GDOL) statistics, the county’sunemployment rate has risen one tenth of apercent to 10.5 from 10.4 in December 2010.However, DeKalb’s unemployment rate is rel-atively average in comparison to most coun-ties; the highest being 17.3 in Chattahoocheeand the lowest at 6.6 in Echols.
Sam Hall
, a spokesman for the GDOL,said although DeKalb County’s rate increasedover the past few months, it did decrease bytwo-tenths of a percent from 10.7 in January2010.“The over-the-year decrease in unemploy-ment in DeKalb is due to a decline in con-tinued claims for unemployment insurancebene ts in manufacturing, construction andtrade,” Hall said.He also said that in January 2011, claimsled for unemployment insurance declined14.8 percent but so have the number of jobsavailable in DeKalb County.“The number of jobs in DeKalb Countydecreased by 1.5 percent, from 277,050 to272,918. Job losses in administrative supportservices, trade and professional, scienti c andtechnical services offset the [jobs gained] ineducation services, health care and social as-sistance,” Hall said.According to
Burke Brennan
, chief com-munications of cer of DeKalb County, ap-proximately 90 percent of businesses in thecounty are small businesses, most of whichare start-ups.“We all like to see the headlines of a bigemployer coming to town like Zurich Inter-national, who brought 150 jobs. Those areall well and good but the bread and butter of DeKalb County’s economy are the smallbusinesses, the mom and pop [stores],” Bren-nan said.The county takes a two-fold approach tojob development. The Of ce of EconomicDevelopment recruits businesses to the coun-ty to create capital investment jobs and theWorkforce Development Department trainsworkers for various positions where there isdemand.“As far as workforce development goes,the majority of people who are seeking train-ing are looking to enter the health care or IT  elds and the majority of businesses thatare seeking personnel are in health care or customer service, believe it or not,” Brennansaid.
Leonardo McClarty
, president of theDeKalb Chamber of Commerce, said thathealth care and social assistance are the big-gest industries in the county with approxi-mately 40,568 jobs, followed by educationwith 33,820 and retail with 30,384.“We still continue to see a rise in the num-ber of small businesses…however, that istypical in times of a recession. Further, whenpeople stay out of the job market for longperiods of time, they start to look at businessownership particularly if they are skilled,”McClarty said.He also projected that industries like tele-communications and data processing havethe most potential for long-term growth in thecounty.State unemployment dropped from 10.3to 10.2 percent in February. According toGeorgia Labor Commissioner 
Mark Butler
,although the rate is still relatively high, therehas been small growth in several industries.“We’re seeing some positive growth whenit comes to new jobs for IT and health carebut more importantly, construction. We’reseeing a very slight increase in constructionjobs, which is de nitely a very positive sign,a sign that we have not seen in a very longtime,” Butler said.According to the last United States De-partment of Labor report, Georgia has the10th worst unemployment rate in the country.
Smoking
Continued From Page 2A 
 
DeKalb County residentsstill on the job hunt
Unemployment rates for DeKalb Countysince January, 2010 courtesy of the GDOL2010:
- Jan. 10.7- Feb. 10.4- March 10.1- April 9.7- May 9.9- June 10.5- July 10.8- Aug. 10.8- Sept. 10.6- Oct. 10.5- Nov. 10.6- Dec. 10.4
2011:
- Jan. 10.5
ity to approve the plannedordinance.During a recent anti-smoking event, Ford said shewas given the task of pickingup cigarettes butts that werediscarded on the ground infront of the Board of Health’sbuilding.“I was surprised to seehow many butts were outthere directly in front of theBoard of Health,” Ford said.
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